As Kerala battles a surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the delta variant logging over 22,000 daily infections for the better part of a week, neighbours Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also recorded a rise in cases after nearly three weeks and over two months respectively on Thursday.
Triggering fears of the possible onset of a third wave, Karnataka saw a rise in cases after 19 days from 1,531 on Wednesday to 2,052 on Thursday. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu saw its daily Covid-19 cases rise from 1,56 to 1,859, registering a spike after 69 days. Daily Covid-19 death toll in Karnataka fell below 20 for the first time in three months.
Correspondingly, single-day Covid-19 cases across India also saw an uptick — with Kerala accounting for over half the cases — on Thursday and Friday. The number of cases on Thursday (43,509) was the highest since July 7. On Friday, the cases further rose to 44,230.
Unlike Kerala, however, where only 44 per cent of the population was exposed to the coronavirus, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu's population had a seroprevalance of 69.2 and 69.8 per cent respectively — higher than the national average of 67.6 per cent.
On Thursday, Kerala announced a complete lockdown on July 31 and August 1 as cases continued to rise. Many parts of the state were already under lockdown-like curbs. The state's test positivity rate currently stands at 13.53 per cent. The Centre even sent a six-member delegation to aid the state in managing the Covid-19 situation.
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